Microsoft’s annual Ignite conference is a crucial cache of news IT-savvy companies need to pay attention to. The announcements help show the direction Microsoft technology is moving and staying on top of the cutting edge is how you identify and track opportunities for your business to be a leader.

The Passwordless Future

As strong as you build your IT security, it typically rests upon your power to keep passwords secure. One misplaced post-it note, one thoughtless password share with the wrong person, or one unassociated data breach that leaks a password a person uses everywhere, and your data could be in deep trouble.

Microsoft knows this and is making a real push to switch to a passwordless world through Microsoft Authenticator for the many vital Azure Active Directory connected apps businesses rely on. You’ve never had more options to eliminate the liability of passwords.

Keeping Compliant

Equally important to many companies is ensuring they’re abiding by industry regulations — a high profile matter this year thanks to the publicity around the General Data Protection Regulation.

Microsoft Compliance Manager can now better help you with risk assessment, and Microsoft has improved its data sensitivity labeling capabilities for Office 365 and Azure Information Protection.

The AI-Powered Microsoft Search

Wish there was some way you could search across your business’ network? The AI-powered Microsoft Search can help you find the content you’re looking for whether it’s on the Windows computer, Office apps, SharePoint or OneDrive, and various third-party services.

It’s personalized, and it allows you to take better control of your whole company’s IT deployment, rather than have to hunt through silos. A preview is available for Office.com.

Azure and Data Management

There’s a host of updates for data management in Azure worth paying attention to. There’s a public preview of Azure Data Explorer, which is built to handle huge stores of event data from apps, servers and edge devices. Azure Cosmos DB now has multi-master support, a lower cost barrier to entry, and has been expanded into a multimodal, multi-API database thanks to the Cassandra API.

You also might want to make note of Azure Databricks Delta, now in preview. This can give you better data reliability and performance. Then, Azure SQL Data Warehouse now has a lower price point at entry level and allows you to focus on storage or computing. It might be the perfect time to get started.

Explore Digital Twin Technology

Azure Digital Twins allows you to discover the possibilities of digital twinning — building fully representative digital versions of physical environments with real-time connections. This means businesses can better understand what’s going on, responding to issues before they even occur.

With a public preview coming this week, businesses won’t have to wait to get a glimpse at how Azure enables what’s fast becoming a necessity.

So Much More from Microsoft Ignite

There’s an enormous amount of information available about the many announcements Microsoft made at Ignite. Get more news here.

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